Czech defencemen Michal Moravcik and David Sklenicka, recently signed for two seasons each by the Montreal Canadiens, were never on the radar during their two seasons of eligibility for the NHL draft. They are late bloomers and it was only in the last few months that they started garnering some interest from the NHL.

The IIHF World Championships in May gave them an unexpected window of visibility.

The Czech national team was turned down by many of its players who participated in the PyeongChang Olympics and in the NHL, where their numbers on defence are dwindling, basically every candidate for a spot on the blue line was playing in the playoffs. The Czechs, as a result, decided to turn toward their youth on defence, and that’s how the relatively inexperienced pair of Moravcik, 23, and Sklenicka, 21, earned a surprise spot on the team.

“I was not sure, before we took them to the world championships, if they can compete on the highest level. They showed me...